RTÉ is obliged under Section 39 (1) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 to ensure that

(a) all news broadcast . is reported and presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of the broadcaster’s own views

(b) the broadcast treatment of current affairs, including matters which are either of public controversy or the subject of current public debate is fair to all interests concerned and that the broadcast matter is presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of his or her own views, except that should it prove impracticable in relation to a single broadcast to apply this paragraph, two or more related broadcasts may be considered as a whole, if the broadcasts are transmitted within a reasonable period of each other

First of all, apologies for my apparent absence from the world for the last couple of days – between Comm Day stuff hitting full swing and a website that needed doing, the DramSoc Swing Ball on Friday night (which was great), being at the glorious rugby game on Saturday (Allez les verts! Now let’s not let this Grand Slam talk get too out of hand…) and two issues of the University Observer to get online – as well as blogs to set up for some of their contributors, it’s been a manically busy couple of days. So sorry for not blogging, and to the few commenters from the last post on third-level fees, I’ll get back to you shortly, I swear.

(Shameless plug: being on GTalk on Friday night led to me spending a few hours setting up IJustGotAText.com for my friend Carla. Plug plug plug.)

But no matter how far away from the world-at-large you can run, some things you just can’t escape. Today – getting back on the rungs of college life – we put on Morning Ireland to wake us up and ease us into the world outside of the house. We might as well not have bothered.

Christ. Whatever. We get it. Ireland is fucked. Fine. Let’s get on with it! I understand that people are losing their jobs, and it’s shocking and regrettable and sad but it’s been like that for a few months now. Anglo Irish was nationalised. Fine. That happened a month ago. Why is it still in the news? The country was frustrated before today that people were losing jobs, having pension levies, seeing education funding cut, and all of that, before it came today. People are short of money at the moment – the people already know that. They don’t need Morning Ireland to tell them when the world is getting better – they’ll know themselves when they can afford the odd mild luxury again.

An honest question to anyone: isn’t there a serious market right now for a news outlet that sidesteps financial news completely?

After spending most of two days offline, there’s no welcome back to the internet like this kind of story.

It seems that in the midst of Dell pulling out of Limerick, and all the turmoil in the banking world and other bailouts, that no industry is safe – not even the most basic of all human pleasures, porn.

Larry Flynt, as in the Larry Flynt, the publisher of such illustrious, world-respected and esteemed publications as Hustler and Barely Legal, has announced that the seedy world of pornography is feeling the pinch of the financial times (not the Financial Times – one doubts much competition in that regard), and – on behalf of the entire porn industry – is seeking a $5bn bailout from the federal government in the United States. Though one might assume the calls are being made with tongue firmly planted in cheek, it seems that Flynt and Joe Francis, a producer who is co-signing letters to the relevant parties, genuinely mean it – the industry is seeing dramatic falls from peak value of $18bn worldwide a few years ago.